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The nearing of the end

Incredibly, term comes to a close this week. Or very nearly. It’s our last week of lectures before a full week of seminars and the looming deadline of our final coursework of the academic year. With only a handful of part-time students, it’s rather strange to think the majority of people I’ve come to know these past few months will be no more than memories come the start of my second year. Yes, I suppose a few of them will remain in the UK, but I also expect the lives of those who do to change so dramatically it’s difficult to see them maintaining the same sort of social agenda.

It’s actually something of a sensitive topic amongst most students these days. Internships. Dissertations. Jobs. Finance. It seems to have finally dawned on my classmates that, come the official end of term (and the degree in their case) in a couple weeks’ time, they have around 3 months to finish their dissertations and probably even less to find some sort of work that will provide them the much needed experience. That may sound a bit inconsiderate and make me into something of a condescending know-it-all, but it does seem to be a common thread between the full-time students - they all expect to find employment of some sort either during the summer or just after they hand in their dissertations.

Logically, of course this makes no sense. But I suppose it’s something of a ‘student logic’. It’s what they’ve been sold into after all, that the degree would help them get a job in the industry. Yet, sadly, I don’t think I have ever seen an applicant’s CV that doesn’t have a Master’s degree in some sport-related discipline. It still doesn’t mean they get the job.

Alas discouraging musings. Yet if the thought of not seeing these people - some of whom I would consider friends - on a weekly basis has a… curious ring to it, stranger even will be getting to meet a whole new group of students in October - the full-time students of the 2014/15 academic year. Comparably, it would be like an entire department at work being dismissed and an entire new being hired. How odd. At Uni I either progressed with the group or just slightly ahead of them, so this will be an altogether new experience for me.

But now I’m sounding overly dramatic. There will still be the familiar faces around and, if anything, it will just mean meeting even more people working or wanting to work in the industry. All about networking? Perhaps not quite ‘all about’, but certainly still a great deal.

Feelings of parting but also of new tides to come. Three terms later and I reckon I’ve now found a reasonable balance between work, studies and life. The scales seem to shift one way or the other from time to time - and I suppose I shouldn’t really expect any different - but I’ve also learned how to tilt them back into balance a lot quicker. Or maybe that’s only because I enjoy this module that is now coming to an end - or rather that I am simply looking forward to my 2-week holiday in July.